“Of course, but you?”
“I am not the woman of the house.”
“No, but you are the man. We can have hitch rails out in front. Still have a great patio to entertain in back and a pool. The large beams across the living areas and hardwood floors are going to be wonderful. I want to pick the light fixtures. And we can cool what part we want to use. It is big.”
“Is that all that worries you?” John leaned back and sighed.
Poor man. Mark laid his hand over hers. “It’s beautiful the way it is. We like it big. Yes?” He nodded toward Julie.
“Yes. Only change I would like to make is a larger pantry off the kitchen and take the size from the kitchen space. Rosita should not have to walk so far from range, to fridge, to sink.”
The waiter returned to take their order and John rolled up the plans, looking pleased. “No more changes once we begin the rooms. You can choose paint colors. Agreed?”
“Yes. This style is us, I agree.”
He drank Coke, John drank beer, and she drank red wine. They spent over an hour visiting and talking about the house, but it was settled at last. The matter did make Mark a lot more comfortable. John said it was their house and needed to be like they wanted it.
Slouched in the captain’s chair, Mark enjoyed his steak while his mind wandered to the mare and her colt. John enjoyed his meal, chatting with Julie about getting someone to put in the pool. Listening to Julie’s lilting voice, he imagined her in something skimpy, jumping into crystal clear water and coming up laughing. The Lincoln convertible would surprise and please her. Sam wanted to spoil her, too.
“Feel better now?” She drove them back home.
“Hey, I would have lived in a tent with you, but I love the plans. A real ranch house. You know I was raised in an adobe shack on some crop farm around here. I spent summers up at Congress at Grandfather’s ranch till he lost it. This will be my first real home. To have it with you, pleases me.”
“I talked to Mom. She wishes we’d come down there and visit.”
“Can they wait till we catch that mare and colt?”
She broke into laughter. “You talk about Sam and all his deals. Mark Shaw, you are as business-minded as he is.”
“I told Jones we’d be up first thing as soon as we finished the deal on the house.”
“All right. Let’s go catch the horses first.”
Mark frowned at all the pickups with racks and aluminum painted horse trailers parked all along the road while they headed down the section line going toward their place. Those damn amateur horse chasers were only making the mare wilder. None of them would ever catch her.
He wanted that blue roan colt about as bad as he’d wanted Julie. Not quite, but almost.
Boy, he wanted a lot.
—
JONES WAS SLEEPING IN A hammock in the warm afternoon sun when Mark came across the yard. Jones sat up, put on his unblocked hat, and looked hard at the pickup. “Why didn’t she come with you?”
“She’s afraid of real Indians.”
“Oh, hell, I doubt that. We met at the wedding and she did not appear afraid. What has changed? Have you been telling her wild tales about our adventures?”
“Well, maybe. You ever get a woman?”
“Yeah.”
“She here?”
“I guess, if she didn’t run off.”
“I’ll get mine. You get yours. Why, we may even have a stomp here today.”
Jones went rambling off to get his woman and Mark went back for Julie. They met at the hammock. Her name was Lupe. She was younger than Julie and wore a faded dress, with her dark hair in braids. They sat in green steel lawn chairs and Jones asked Julie where she grew up.
“I used to live in Tempe. I finished college and moved out to the ranch. My folks have a ranch at Sonata.”
“He got electricity out to your place yet?”
“Oh, yes, a week ago we shut the generator off for good.”
He made a face. “They won’t ever get electricity up where he took me a few years ago. Man, we had to ride horses for three days to find it. It had no road.”
“I wonder why he didn’t keep it.”
He shook his head. “Your crazy man would never have sold it, but Sam gave him that valley land or he’d still be up there.”
“It didn’t treat you so bad. You got this farm out of the deal.” Mark turned to Lupe. “He was living in a jacal over in Lehi, Lupe. Not nice, like this place.”
Lupe smiled. “I really like this place. I saw that one and I would have stayed at Sells before I would have gone up there to that.”
“She has been to school,” Jones said. “She can read and write and cooks good too. I was lucky to find her.”
“Jones, I’ve got a deal for us. There is a red dun mare and her colt loose—”
“I know all about them. A man, name of Harry Price, came here one day and wanted me to go get them. Talked to me in sign language, like I didn’t speak English. He kept asking if I would go catch them, like in the movies.”
“What did you tell this Price?”
“He kept saying, ‘I will pay you well. Will you do this for me?’ I got so tired of him talking to me like that, I said, ‘Fuck you and that mare and her colt. And fuck you for treating me like I was a second-class dumb Indian. Now get the fuck off my place.’”
By then, Jones was waving his arms and Mark and Julie were bent over in stitches. Lupe was giggling and finally managed to say, “He ran him off. That man actually ran to his station wagon, like he was going to scalp him, and roared away.”
“Will you come help me?” Mark pointed and signed at Jones.
They laughed some more.
Finally, Jones managed to speak. “All those reward getters have done is get her more spooked. But Lupe can ride good. That would make four of us.”
“Julie can ride, and I have enough horses shod and ready.”
Jones nodded toward Mark and spoke to Julie. “He came in army clothes to my house wagon with an Indian girl I knew. He ever tell you that story?”
She shook her head.
So, Jones told her how they’d met and worked together on the Bloody Basin ranch and about Alma, too. When he finished talking about Alma’s funeral, they were all in tears.
He took her hands and looked into her eyes. “I am so glad you’re going to help him.”
Lupe took the handkerchief from Mark and dried the tears from Jones’s face.
“He told me many times that he appreciated her and you so much.” Julie sniffed and wiped her eyes.
Jones stood. “Well, when do we ride?”
“Thursday?” Mark came away from staring out the window.
“Good.”
“Come to our house the night before.”
“No, she has chickens and the horses to see about.” Jones shook his head.
Mark glanced at Lupe. “Can I hire someone to care for them?”
Jones looked at her. “Would your sister come?”
“I think so.”
“We don’t live fancy, Lupe. We have a trailer house. Used.” Julie accented the last word.
Lupe laughed.
With all things settled, Mark and Julie hurried off for home, grabbing their rural delivery mail out of the box.
“Will you go look for her with them?” she asked.
“Of course, but not without you.”
“Great. I want to ride with you. Have you ever seen Jones cry before?”
“No, I never have seen any emotion from him. I guess her death was hard on him too. They chewed on each other all the time. Alma wanted him to find a wife. He said they cost too much. But after my Alma died he went and found Lupe, didn’t he?”
She agreed. “Oh, Mark he’s such a complex man.”
“I think he’s a great person. He damn sure told that guy who owns them horses to get out.”
“But he was talking down to him like some guy in a bad movie.” She shook her head.
“Chasing those horses
will be fun.”
“Yes, thanks for letting me go along.”
“Hey, why did you think I wouldn’t take you along?”
“I felt like I might be invading your world too much.”
He stopped the car and turned to her. “Julie, you’re my life.”
They kissed for a while, then in a cloud of dust rushed home.
Later, they watched the snowy black and white TV news and he read the mail.
“Don’t forget Sam’s party Saturday night, baby. He asked you to be his hostess, remember?”
“Who’s it for again?”
“Lord, I don’t know. Someone he either likes or wants to impress. Hey, I have a letter here from Western Films.”
She walked into the room with a spatula in her hand from cooking their supper. “What does it say?”
“Hmm, looks like Carl Whitney is flying over to Mesa Saturday by private plane. He wants to discuss some sites. He wants to know if I would be available to help him.”
“Well...?”
“I’m going to be real busy. I’ll call his secretary and find out when he will land. He can come to your party at Sam’s house.”
“My party?”
“You’re the hostess.”
“Will we have her caught by then?”
“I doubt it.”
“What about Lupe and Jones?”
“I doubt they would go to such a party. But we can ask them.”
“She obviously went to school.”
“I agree. We can ask them.”
“Dinner is ready. Load your plate first. What is this Carl Whitely like?”
“Damned if I know. Ah, his real name is Whitney. But if he’s got money and wants movie sets, we can help him find them.”
“Oh, I thought you were old business partners.”
“I guess I am getting a rep as being an expert on getting them put together.”
“You know why they’re coming here?”
He shook his head. He was practically salivating from the aroma of the meal. In bed with her, she did the same thing to him. He laughed.
“Anything wrong?”
“No, ma’am. I was just thinking if I didn’t have you, I’d be eating stale bread sandwiches by myself out here.”
“As big a flirt as you are, Mark Shaw, you’d have someone cooking for you.”
“No, I wasn’t going to do that after I lost her. I kept that promise for years until you came along. I kept women out of my life.”
“You weren’t as hard to get as I thought you would be. I gave you my eye all that day at the fairgrounds and wasn’t sure you wouldn’t dump me for being so bold. I really didn’t think I had a chance, but I wanted us to try. I had flocks of butterflies in my stomach and was trembling inside. I had spied on you after I saw you the first time up at Preskit helping run the stock and riding broncs.” She shook her head.
“I asked everyone how I could meet you.”
“They said he’s old Stonewall himself.”
He shook his head and cut off a big piece of hamburger with his fork. “I was Stonewall, babe.”
“What about Linda? Can you talk about her? She must have been a star in your eye.”
He nodded and tried to compose his story for her. “Sam decided I needed a woman. He made her hostess at a party. She was an up and coming actress. I didn’t know that, and she came early to ‘help’ me. I guess she was like a plate of chocolates on a fancy etched plate. You had to sample a piece of her.”
She grinned big and shook her head. “Oh, temptation.”
“She was that. But she was on a career path. She didn’t need a husband for an anchor unless he was Clark Gable. Let me tell you the truth. Only two women in my life ever were here for me—Alma and you. The movie queen was receptive, but I just knew that in the middle of making love, she’d find crumbs on the sheet.”
Julie laughed heartily.
He pointed at her. “You never worry about it. That explains our first night on the floor. It didn’t bother you one damn bit. We were there for each other. I agree there are fonder memories of our times together since then and a bed would have been better—”
“No. I really didn’t give a damn. I wanted you so badly. I still do.”
“Hold that thought. Does that answer your questions about my past?”
She nodded. “Can you tell me about the things you had in your head? I don’t want you to go crazy because of me. You can save them for later.”
“Oh, you mean artillery fire, men getting killed? That’s all behind me. The war was terrible, the sounds were echoing in my skull for a long time. It was all day, every day when I got home. I wanted to ride a damn horse to the end of the world and then jump him off in the Grand Canyon. Lenore wanted me to see a witch in Gilbert. I said I would if it didn’t go away.”
“Was she a witch? Alma, I mean.”
He cradled a cup of coffee in his hands and looked across the table at her. “Jones thought so. I was too close. I found Alma in the Indian Pony parking lot late one evening. She was still crying over her husband who was killed in the war six months earlier. I didn’t realize she’d gone back to her Indian ways over his death. She never stopped crying for him, but I knew she was there for me, too.”
“Oh, Mark. You have me crying.” She dabbed her eyes on a napkin.
“I guess I was too bound up to cry. But that night, I never heard any bombs or machine gun fire. I began to realize I might heal from that damn war. Sleeping on the ground with a small Indian woman in my arms and finding peace. Hell, Julie. I bullshitted Sam into the ranch deal. I told him my car wouldn’t run. She brought me from Jones’s place in Lehi to Mesa in a wagon. We used the store pay phone to call him back. He sent his driver after me.”
Julie was on his lap by then. “Did he ever find out about you not having a car?”
“Sam knew lots more than I thought he did. He gave me his old Lincoln to use.”
“We still use it except when we take that pretty blue truck when the roads are rough.”
“And he takes the car off his income taxes.”
She hugged his face to hers and kissed him. “Do you think I have any powers?”
“Hell, I didn’t think for years she had any. How would I know?”
“That day at the fairgrounds, when you said ‘sister’ to me like John Wayne, I about fainted. He’s going to run me off, but not before I tell him. Then when you wouldn’t take my offer I thought, he’s stalling, and I won’t even get to try getting along with him. I realized it was your deep respect for me.”
She moved to sit across both legs. “We’ve had some great times.”
“And they will go on forever and ever.”
“We have one day to get some groceries in this house and get ready for those two. What do you need to do? Oh, call that producer in LA. Do I need a special dress for Saturday night?”
“If you do, go get one.”
“I will. What now?” she asked.
“Let’s turn off the TV.”
She kissed him on the cheek. “Amen. Let’s go to bed.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
FROST WAS ON THE DESERT. The horses were breathing steam and the riders were bundled up. They huddled in their saddles as they rode out for the back gate.
“This is how he treated me up on that ranch every morning, and it was lots colder up there than it is down here. ‘Oh, Jones,’ he would say, ‘it will be hot by noon time.’ ‘Damnit,’ I would swear. ‘Let’s wait until tomorrow to find these crazy cattle.’”
“Then he would say, ‘this is what summers are like in Europe. Your breath turns to snow like that.’”
Mark shook his head. “He moaned all the time about something.”
Julie started laughing, and soon Lupe joined in.
“Did he ever tell you he was a movie star?” Mark asked her.
“Was he?”
“Yes. They paid him two hundred dollars to stomp dance with some Navajo women in one movie.”
“He was in one movie playing Geronimo. He even made a speech in Pima.”
“I didn’t know any Apache. He said talk like an Indian.”
“What did you say in Pima?” Julie’s breath misted around her face.
“‘Stop your pig from loving my pig.’”
They laughed the next half mile, riding through stirrup high grease wood prairie. Mark and Jones used field glasses to scope the land.
“Wow.” Jones studied the new expensive field glasses in his hand. “We needed these looking for cows up on the ranch.”
They searched the west end of the McDowell Mountains and saw some mustangs but no yellow mare. She wasn’t staying, and definitely not with a bossy stallion. Sliced roast beef sandwiches, potato chips, and candy bars made lunch, all washed down with thermos coffee or canteen water.
They came back home on a wide swing. Jones found some tracks of a large horse and a colt. “They could be hers. She’s not with any band.”
They looked over the area but found no sign of her. They ended up at the ranch at sundown. The men fed the stock hay and put up the horses. Jones looked at everything.
When he saw the welded gates, he turned to Mark. “You made these?”
“Sure, I learned how to weld in FFA in high school.”
“Is it hard to do?”
“No, you strike an arc and go after it. You have to wear a mask or go blind.”
“Someday you can show me how.”
“It will take some practice, but you can weld. What are you going to build?”
“A pen for wild horses.”
“Let me know when you want to start.”
Jones nodded, and they walked up the road toward the trailer. “The log house is nice and sturdy. When can you move in?”
“They’re finishing the rooms. It fits us better than the one we originally planned. It’s still a big house.”
“Like Missus McCormack’s little house?”
He laughed about Jones comparing his to that estate. “No, she has more money than I do.” She was the International Harvester heiress who had a large estate on Scottsdale Road before reaching his.
“Every day they rake the gravel drive at four p.m.”
Blue Roan Colt Page 18
